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Crossroads Launches $500,000 Fiscal Cliff Ad Buy

In the latest sign that outside groups that spent record sums on the recent election are shifting their unrestricted money to lobbying, Crossroads GPS has launched a $500,000 TV ad buy assailing President Barack Obama’s tax plan.

The spot features a moody piano track and sepia-toned images of a somber-looking Obama with the text: “President Obama promised a balanced plan,” followed by the voice-over: “But so far, a huge tax increase is his solution.” It concludes by exhorting viewers to “call President Obama and tell him it’s time to show us a balanced plan.”

Crossroads GPS spent $70.7 million in the 2012 election cycle, according to the Sunlight Foundation. The influential conservative nonprofit is affiliated with the super PAC American Crossroads, which by Sunlight’s tally spent $104.7 million.

A Crossroads statement announcing the ad buy touts House Republicans’ proposal to generate $800 billion “through reform of the tax code” and faults Obama for negotiating for “$50 billion in new spending” during budget talks.

The ad coincides with stepped-up lobbying on both sides of the aisle over the fiscal cliff, which will trigger automatic across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases if lawmakers don’t strike a deficit reduction deal. Labor unions and their allies have vowed to block any plan that trims entitlements, while conservatives on and off Capitol Hill remain dead set against tax increases.

The Crossroads ad will run for one week on national cable networks, including CNN, CNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Headline News and MSNBC. It will also run on the Sunday talk shows in the Washington market, the group announced.

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